How You Can Put an End to This Hidden Danger on College Campuses

There's been a lot of talk in recent years about alarming behaviors on college campuses and how important it is that students educate and protect themselves from a variety of dangers. But one of those dangers hasn't gotten the kind of attention it deserves: Tanning beds. A disturbing number of universities, whose mission is to provide young people with higher education in a safe environment, are instead giving students unlimited and easy access to something entirely unsafe. But you can do something about it.

Almost half of the top 125 colleges and universities in the United States (as ranked by* U.S. News & World Report *in 2013) have tanning beds either on campus or in off-campus housing, according to a recent study funded by the Centers for Disease Control. Even more disturbing: 96 percent of the student apartment complexes that are equipped with tanning beds offer use of them free to residents. What's more, 14 percent of those top schools allow students to pay for local tanning sessions with their campus card, the way they might charge a cafeteria meal or a load of laundry.

Tanning should not be a social activity, nor should it be labeled as an amenity in off-campus apartments. Indoor-tanning exposure is recognized internationally as a carcinogen—but on college campuses, it's a perk.

Are you hoping the beds are there but nobody is using them? Sorry. Studies show early 60 percent of U.S. college students have tanned indoors, and the CDC reports that women between the ages of 18 and 21 who frequent tanning beds do so 27 or more times a year. 27 or more. People who use tanning beds are more likely to develop melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. Just one session substantially increases your risk. But the young women on college campuses aren't tanning just once or twice. It's no wonder that melanoma is the most common cancer among college-aged women.

There are some universities that, to their credit, have taken steps to sever ties with local tanning salons. Earlier this year, Rutgers University in New Jersey removed all tanning affiliations from their debit card and student discount programs following a letter they received from members of Congress. More institutions have vowed to follow. But most of the universities on that CDC list seem uninterested in going to battle with local tanning salons and apartment developers. And by permitting a tanning salon to operate on campus—or by maintaining a financial relationship with tanning salons through campus cards—these universities appear to endorse indoor tanning, even if they don't intend to.

Several university spokespeople told me that their institutions have no influence over the kinds of businesses that pop up around town. But I just don't buy that. Of course these local economic powerhouses could take a stand against indoor tanning. They could make it clear that tanning beds aren't welcome in student housing—the same way cigarette machines are no longer an amenity. They could make sure tanning salons are not university-approved merchants on student debit cards and discount programs. They could educate their students about the dangers of tanning.

Until universities get their act together, here's what you can do: Take a pledge not to enter a tanning bed. If you're a student, ask your friends to make the same promise. If you're a parent, make sure your kids know about the dangers of tanning and beg them not to do it. Unlike a lot of the problems on campus, I believe this one is easy to fix. Just don't tan. Use the hashtag #beautydoesntburn to let us know that you've taken the pledge.